Editing Naples (section)

=== Duchy of Naples ===
{{Main|Duchy of Naples|List of Dukes of Naples}}
[[File:Gothic Battle of Mons Lactarius on Vesuvius.jpg|thumb|The [[Gothic War (535–554)|Gothic]] [[Battle of Mons Lactarius]] on [[Mount Vesuvius|Vesuvius]], painted by [[Alexander Zick]]]]
Following the decline of the [[Western Roman Empire]], Naples was captured by the [[Ostrogoths]], a [[Germanic peoples|Germanic people]], and incorporated into the [[Ostrogothic Kingdom]].<ref name="ostrogoths">{{cite book |last=Wolfram |first=Herwig |title=The Roman Empire and Its Germanic Peoples |publisher=University of California Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F33naMdrcs8C&q=mons+lactarius+naples&pg=PA238 |isbn=978-0-520-08511-4 |year=1997 |access-date=27 October 2020 |archive-date=18 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240418064934/https://books.google.com/books?id=F33naMdrcs8C&q=mons+lactarius+naples&pg=PA238#v=snippet&q=mons%20lactarius%20naples&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> However, [[Belisarius]] of the [[Byzantine Empire]] recaptured Naples in 536, after entering the city via an aqueduct.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://historymedren.about.com/od/bentries/a/11_belisarius.htm |publisher=About.com |title=Belisarius – Famous Byzantine General |date=8 January 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090419124422/http://historymedren.about.com/od/bentries/a/11_belisarius.htm |archive-date=19 April 2009}}</ref>

In 543, during the [[Gothic War (535–554)|Gothic Wars]], [[Totila]] briefly took the city for the Ostrogoths, but the Byzantines seized control of the area following the [[Battle of Mons Lactarius]] on the slopes of [[Mount Vesuvius|Vesuvius]].<ref name="ostrogoths" /> Naples was expected to keep in contact with the [[Exarchate of Ravenna]], which was the centre of Byzantine power on the [[Italian Peninsula]].<ref name="byz">{{cite book |last=Kleinhenz |first=Christopher |title=Medieval Italy: An Encyclopedia |publisher=Routledge |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2SBRqpIVtEUC&q=duchy+of+naples&pg=PA755 |isbn=978-0-415-22126-9 |year=2004 |access-date=27 October 2020 |archive-date=18 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240418064922/https://books.google.com/books?id=2SBRqpIVtEUC&q=duchy+of+naples&pg=PA755 |url-status=live }}</ref>

After the [[exarch]]ate fell, a [[Duchy of Naples]] was created. Although Naples' [[Greco-Roman world|Greco-Roman]] culture endured, it eventually switched allegiance from [[Constantinople]] to Rome under Duke [[Stephen II of Naples|Stephen II]], putting it under [[Pope|papal]] [[suzerainty]] by 763.<ref name="byz" />

The years between 818 and 832 saw tumultuous relations with the [[List of Byzantine emperors|Byzantine Emperor]], with numerous local pretenders feuding for possession of the ducal throne.<ref name="duchy">{{cite book |last=McKitterick |first=Rosamond |author-link=Rosamond McKitterick |title=The New Cambridge Medieval History |publisher=Cambridge University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2SBRqpIVtEUC&q=duchy+of+naples&pg=PA755 |isbn=978-0-521-85360-6 |year=2004 |access-date=27 October 2020 |archive-date=18 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240418064922/https://books.google.com/books?id=2SBRqpIVtEUC&q=duchy+of+naples&pg=PA755 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Theoctistus of Naples|Theoctistus]] was appointed without imperial approval; his appointment was later revoked and [[List of Dukes of Naples|Theodore II]] took his place. However, the disgruntled general populace chased him from the city and elected [[Stephen III of Naples|Stephen III]] instead, a man who minted coins with his initials rather than those of the Byzantine Emperor. Naples gained complete independence by the early ninth century.<ref name="duchy" /> Naples allied with the Muslim [[Saracens]] in 836 and asked for their support to repel the siege of [[Lombards|Lombard]] troops coming from the neighbouring [[Duchy of Benevento]]. However, during the 850s, Muslim general [[Muhammad I Abu 'l-Abbas]] sacked [[Miseno]], but only for [[Khums]] purposes (Islamic booty), without conquering the territories of [[Campania]].<ref name=mag>{{harvnb|Magnusson|Goring|1990}}</ref><ref>Hilmar C. Krueger. "The Italian Cities and the Arabs before 1095" in ''A History of the Crusades: The First Hundred Years'', Vol.I. Kenneth Meyer Setton, Marshall W. Baldwin (eds., 1955). University of Pennsylvania Press. p.48.</ref>

The duchy was under the direct control of the [[Lombards]] for a brief period after the capture by [[Pandulf IV of Capua|Pandulf IV]] of the [[Principality of Capua]], a long-term rival of Naples; however, this regime lasted only three years before the Greco-Roman-influenced dukes were reinstated.<ref name="duchy" /> By the 11th century, Naples had begun to employ [[Normans|Norman]] [[Mercenary|mercenaries]] to battle their rivals; Duke [[Sergius IV of Naples|Sergius IV]] hired [[Rainulf Drengot]] to wage war on Capua for him.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bradbury |first=Jim |author-link=Jim Bradbury |title=The Routledge Companion to Medieval Warfare |publisher=Routledge |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1C54r8GgrUIC&q=Sergius+IV+hired+Rainulf+Drengot&pg=PA75 |isbn=978-0-415-22126-9 |date=8 April 2004 |access-date=27 October 2020 |archive-date=18 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240418064922/https://books.google.com/books?id=1C54r8GgrUIC&q=Sergius+IV+hired+Rainulf+Drengot&pg=PA75 |url-status=live }}</ref>

By 1137, the Normans had attained great influence in Italy, controlling previously independent principalities and duchies such as [[Principality of Capua|Capua]], [[Duchy of Benevento|Benevento]], [[Principality of Salerno|Salerno]], [[Duchy of Amalfi|Amalfi]], [[Duchy of Sorrento|Sorrento]] and [[Duchy of Gaeta|Gaeta]]; it was in this year that Naples, the last independent duchy in the southern part of the peninsula, came under Norman control. The last ruling duke of the duchy, [[Sergius VII of Naples|Sergius VII]], was forced to surrender to [[Roger II of Sicily|Roger II]], who had been proclaimed [[List of monarchs of Sicily|King of Sicily]] by [[Antipope Anacletus II]] seven years earlier. Naples thus joined the [[Kingdom of Sicily]], with [[Palermo]] as the capital.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.britannica.com/eb/topic-542840/Kingdom-of-Sicily |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071026135034/https://www.britannica.com/eb/topic-542840/Kingdom-of-Sicily |archive-date=26 October 2007 |work=Encyclopædia Britannica |title=Kingdom of Sicily, or Trinacria |date=8 January 2008}}</ref>